MAX CACHE SPEED Another Windows 95/98/ME limitation squashed! 1 down, 1 zillion to go... Ouch! ;) Forget what I told you about setting your Windows 9x/ME File System cache to "Network Server", detailed in "NETWORK SERVER", also in REGISTRY.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE]. Those are only the maximum ALLOWED values from: Control Panel -> (double)-click System applet -> Performance tab -> File System button -> Hard Disk tab -> "Typical role of this computer" box -> "Network Server", and respectively "Read-ahead optimization" slider -> Full -> click OK twice -> reboot. This setting (highest available) allocates about 40 KB of RAM to cache the last 64 accessed directory paths and the last 2729 accessed files. But you can further increase these settings BEYOND the Win9x/ME GUI limit, to the next level, otherwise unavailable from the System applet, to have your computer cache up to 3 (THREE) times more files and directories, and speed up hard disk performance substantially. The only disadvantage is that this way Windows will allocate up to 3 times more physical RAM to the file cache, which is taken from the available memory pool, normally used by applications/games. Therefore I recommend doing this ONLY IF your system has at least 32 MB of installed RAM. This works best on computers with 64 MB and up... and who cares about RAM "shortage" if you happen to have 128 MB or more? :-) And now let's see the "goodies". :) Copy & paste the text below in Notepad to create a REG file, and save it for example as MAXCACHE.REG: -----Begin cut & paste here----- REGEDIT4 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates] @="Max Cache" [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Super Cache] @="Super Cache" "NameCache"=hex:00,ff,00,00 "PathCache"=hex:ff,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Max Cache] @="Max Cache" "NameCache"=hex:00,18,00,00 "PathCache"=hex:c8,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Huge Cache] @="Huge Cache" "NameCache"=hex:80,13,00,00 "PathCache"=hex:90,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Large Cache] @="Large Cache" "NameCache"=hex:a0,0f,00,00 "PathCache"=hex:80,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\FS Templates\Medium Cache] @="Medium Cache" "NameCache"=hex:20,0f,00,00 "PathCache"=hex:50,00,00,00 [HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\control\FileSystem] "NameCache"=hex:00,18,00,00 "PathCache"=hex:c8,00,00,00 ------End cut & paste here------ CREDITS: "Super Cache" settings appear courtesy of Thomas (thomast@ns.sympatico.ca), and THESE ARE THE MAXimum values accepted by Windows 9x/ME! "Large Cache" settings appear courtesy of Dave (kavaston@csolve.net). Now all you have to do is (double)-click on MAXCACHE.REG in Windows Explorer or File Manager (FM = %windir%\WINFILE.EXE) to merge this information into your Registry, and then restart Windows so the changes can take effect. From now on you can select among 5 (FIVE) new options ("Max Cache" setting is used here), besides the 3 "classic" Win9x/ME choices: "Network Server", "Desktop Computer" and "Mobile or Docking System", when you decide the "Typical role of this computer", as explained at the top of this article: [... life in the fast lane, baby! :)] REG File Above "NameCache" "PathCache" Memory (RAM) Used ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEW Setting Cached Files Cached Directories KiloBytes [KB] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Super Cache 65280 255 2170 KB (2.1 MB) Max Cache 6144 200 150 KB Huge Cache 4992 144 108 KB Large Cache 4000 128 80 KB Medium Cache 3872 80 64 KB MEANING ["Max Cache" used as example]: this allocates about 150 KB of RAM to cache the last 200 accessed directory paths and the last 6144 accessed files. Compare to: [... join the slow moving crowd! :)] Default "NameCache" "PathCache" Memory (RAM) Used ------------------------------------------------------------------------- OLD Setting Cached Files Cached Directories KiloBytes [KB] ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Network Server 2729 64 40 KB Desktop Computer 677 32 16 KB Mobile/Docking 160 16 4 KB Experiment with each setting, see which one suits your purpose better, depending on what you use your machine for: business, graphics rendering, CAD, animation/video editing, software development, desktop publishing, 3D gaming, Internet, CD burning etc. Just remember to restart Windows after each change. :) FYI: Use the "Super Cache" settings ONLY IF you have at least 128 MB RAM! See "CD-ROM/DVD + HARD DISK MAX CACHE", also in REGISTRY.TXT [part of W95-11D.EXE], to learn how to boost your read-ahead hard disk cache buffer and CD/CD-R/CD-RW/DVD drive performance to the MAX! "CacheMan for Windows 9x/NT4/2000/ME/XP/2003 [no nag shareware] can also set your hard disk/CD/DVD cache to higher values, including different options you can customize, depending on your computer's memory and used software." [Thank you James (jckirby@gateway.net) for the reminder!]